Sure Shot Questions for Board Exams: Gender Religion and Caste | Social Studies (SST) Class 10 PDF Download

Ans: Two ways in which women face discrimination in our society are:

• Limited access to education: A smaller proportion of girls students go for higher studies compared to boys. Due to various social and cultural norms, girls often face restrictions in pursuing education beyond a certain level. This discrimination deprives them of opportunities for personal and professional growth.
• Occupational segregation: The proportion of women among highly paid and valued jobs is still very small. Women often face discrimination in the workplace, where they are confined to certain industries and job roles that are considered traditionally feminine. This limits their chances of career advancement and equal pay.

Ans: (i) Gender division is a form of hierarchical social division based on social expectation and stereotypes.
 (ii) Boys and girls are brought up to believe that the main responsibilities of women is house work and bringing up children.
(iii) There is a sexual division of labour in most families where women do all the household chores and men work outside the home.
(iv) Majority of women may do some paid work in addition of domestic labour both in rural and Urban areas but their work is not valued and does not get recognition.

Ans: One way to solve this problem is to make it legally binding to have a fair proportion of women in the elected as well as nominated bodies.

Ans: The Indian Constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess, practise and propagate any religion because of secularism. Secularism is one of the fundamental principles of the Indian Constitution, which ensures that the state remains neutral in matters of religion and treats all religions equally. This allows individuals and communities to freely exercise their religious beliefs without any discrimination or interference from the state.

Ans: Problems of communalism in Indian politics:

• Religious Prejudices: Communalism often involves biases and stereotypes against different religious communities, fostering a belief in the superiority of one's own religion.
• Desire for Separation: Members of minority communities may seek to create separate political units, driven by a sense of alienation.
• Communal Violence: This ideology can escalate into severe violence, including riots and massacres, as seen during the Partition of India and in subsequent years.

Ans: Partly due to the efforts of political leaders and social reformers like Jotiba Phula Gandhiji, B.R. Ambedkar etc. and partly due to other socio-economic changes castes and caste system in modern India have undergone great changes.

(i) With the economic development, large scale urbanisation, growth of literacy and education, occupational mobility and the weakening of the position of landlords in the villages, the old notions of caste hierarchy are breaking down.

(ii) Now, most of the times, in urban areas it does not matter much who is walking along next to us on a street or eating at the next table in a restaurant.

(iii) The Constitution of India also prohibits any caste based discrimination and lays down the foundations of policies to reverse the injustices of the caste system.

In spite of these changes yet caste has not disappeared from contemporary India. Some of the older aspects of caste have persisted.

Ans: Different forms of casteism in Indian politics:

• Candidate Selection: Political parties consider the caste makeup of the electorate when choosing candidates, aiming to secure votes from various castes.
• Government Formation: When forming governments, parties ensure representation from different castes and tribes to reflect the electorate's diversity.
• Campaigning: Political parties often appeal to caste sentiments during campaigns, with some parties seen as representatives of specific castes.
• Electoral Dynamics: The principle of universal adult franchise has led leaders to address caste-based issues to gain support, raising awareness among historically marginalised castes.

Ans: (a)

• Assertion (A) is true, as women globally have indeed organised to fight for equal rights.
• Reason (R) is also true, highlighting that the women's movement focused on achieving equality in personal and family life.

Ans: It is absolutely correct to say that politics and social divisions should not be allowed to mix. This is because:

• Mixing these can transform social divisions into political conflicts, leading to violence and instability.
• In Northern Ireland, a long-standing ethno-political conflict has caused significant turmoil.
• The disintegration of Yugoslavia into six countries illustrates the dangers of politicising social divides.
• In Sri Lanka, the politicisation of tensions between Sinhalas and Tamils resulted in a devastating civil war.

Ans: One measure to abolish caste system is increasing the literacy rates in our country.

Ans: The makers of our Constitution were aware of religion related challenge. That is why they chose the model of a secular state. The important provisions that makes India a secular state are:
(i) There is no official religion for the Indian states. Unlike the status of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, that of Islam in Pakistan and that of Christianity in England, our Constitution does not give a special status to any religion.
(ii) The Constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion, or not to follow any.
(iii) The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
(iv) At the same time the Constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion in order to ensure equality within religious communities. For example, it bansuntouchability.

Ans: 33% or one-third of reservation is given to women in local administration in India. This reservation is provided to ensure adequate representation of women in decision-making bodies at the grassroots level, such as Panchayats and Municipalities.

• The most common expression of communalism is in everyday beliefs. These involve the spread of religious prejudices, stereotypes of religious belief, and the superiority of one's religion over other religions. This is so common that we often fail to notice it, even when we do not believe in it.
• It often leads to a quest for political dominance of one's own religious community. This takes the form of majoritarian dominance. For those belonging to the minority community, it leads to the formation of a separate political unit.
• Political mobilization on religious lines is another frequent form of communalism. This involves the use of sacred symbols by religious leaders. Emotional appeals are made to bring the followers of one religion together in the political arena.
• Sometimes communalism can lead to communal violence, riots, and massacres.

Ans: Proper laws should be passed to separate elections from casteism.

• Implement strict regulations to limit caste-based campaigning.
• Encourage political parties to focus on issues and policies rather than caste affiliations.
• Promote awareness about the detrimental effects of casteism in politics.
• Support candidates based on their qualifications and integrity, not caste.